{"id":13034,"date":"2016-11-25T00:02:51","date_gmt":"2016-11-25T05:02:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/verastic.com\/?p=13034"},"modified":"2016-11-24T15:49:36","modified_gmt":"2016-11-24T20:49:36","slug":"igbo-language-trying-kill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/personal\/igbo-language-trying-kill.html","title":{"rendered":"The Igbo Language Is Trying To Kill Me"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Igbo language is really trying to drive me nuts. Let me tell you how. The other day, I was on my computer writing (not blogging) when I suddenly got inspired to add a twist to what I was writing, but to complete it, I needed the Igbo word for Lion. I was sure it was Agu, but then, I started reading a list of Igbo names on Google, and in the list, Agu was interpreted as Tiger. My people, that was how the confusion started.<\/p>\n<p>So, naturally, I turned to my Facebook family where the conversation entered Part 2.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none; overflow: hidden;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fvera.ezimora%2Fposts%2F538950292961149&amp;width=500\" width=\"500\" height=\"193\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Some people said that the Igbo word for Lion is indeed Agu, while some said that Agu is for the tiger and Odum is for the Lion. With each comment, I got more confused. Then I called my grandma to ask her, and she said that Odum is for the lion. She buttressed her point by saying that <em>&#8220;Chineke emechigo&nbsp;onu&nbsp;odum&nbsp;n&#8217;ime&nbsp;oyele.&#8221;<\/em> [God has closed the mouth of the lion in the den]. So according to this saying from my grandma, odum&nbsp;is the lion.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13036\" src=\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Isiagu.jpg\" alt=\"isiagu\" width=\"750\" height=\"446\" srcset=\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Isiagu.jpg 750w, https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Isiagu-300x178.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I had made up my mind that grandma was right, but my friend, Nwadiuto confused me again by showing me this picture of this popular Igbo fabric, called &#8220;Isiagu.&#8221; Isiagu means lion head(s). So I started thinking again that if this fabric is Isiagu, then maybe Agu really means Lion.<\/p>\n<p>I&nbsp;might be wrong, but I think that among the three main languages of Nigeria &#8211; Igbo, Yoruba, and Hausa &#8211; the Igbo language is the hardest of them all. Although I don&#8217;t speak Hausa or Yoruba fluently, I certainly think that if I was not Igbo and I had to learn all three languages, Igbo would be the most difficult one for me.<\/p>\n<p>But just when I was losing all hope, Adaure Achumba came in and saved the day. She said, <em>&#8220;No word for tiger in <\/em>Igbo<em> language. Tigers are not indigenous&nbsp;to Africa. <\/em>Agu<em> is used as generic for &#8216;Big Cats&#8217; like leopards and cheetahs, as well as lions, while Odum is specific to <\/em>lion<em>. I have heard Edi Abali used for <\/em>panther<em>.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13037\" src=\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Lion-Agu-Verastic.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"562\" srcset=\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Lion-Agu-Verastic.jpeg 750w, https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Lion-Agu-Verastic-300x225.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Now, this makes the most sense. Honestly, if I could enroll myself in an Igbo class, I would. I want to know beyond the conversational Igbo language; I want to know without a&nbsp;doubt that Agu stands for big cats. I want to know the Igbo language and culture in its entirety. Is this wishful thinking?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Igbo language is really trying to drive me nuts. Let me tell you how. The other day, I was on my computer writing (not blogging) when I suddenly got inspired to add a twist to what I was writing, but to complete it, I needed the Igbo word for Lion. I was sure it<a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/personal\/igbo-language-trying-kill.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13037,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_14738191_14738191":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[561],"tags":[412,371,1341,192],"class_list":["post-13034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal","tag-culture","tag-igbo","tag-igbo-language","tag-writing","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - 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